Iridescence
by Cocoa987
Summary: The colors are all that's left, reminding her of a place that couldn't possibly be real. Yet, the colors bring back memories of dreams that aren't dreams and a feeling of magic just around the corner. Oneshot based on The Technicolor Phase. Very mild HxA


**Something that popped into my head from listening to the Almost Alice CD over and over again. Everything belongs to Burton!**

She felt a presence everywhere she went, little glimpses of memory that she couldn't quite put a finger on. It was like a dream of a dream, a place not-quite-forgotten yet not-quite-remembered. But the sense tickled her imagination, creating a swirl of color that reminded her of a place just down the rabbit hole in her childhood dreams.  
She remembered- barely. Every night the images seemed to fade more and more, until it was just a feeling in the air that tickled her skin and made her want to dance in the rain and do other things that were completely...mad.

The red roses in her garden were an easy reminder of the queen and her bloody reign. But they also reminded her of a faded red ribbon as she whirled across a river to safety.

The grey in the corners of her suitcase as she packed made her feel small. They reminded her of an old faded teapot- but when she looked past the dankness she saw color once more.  
Green grass brought to mind two pairs of eyes. One was an unearthly glowing blue-green stare, big deep mysterious mischievous eyes. The other pair of eyes wasn't always green- sometimes it was yellow-orange-red and all the colors in between. They were mostly green, though. An almost toxic green, something that she couldn't shake.

The brilliant blue ocean was the exact same color of a blue caterpillar she had met once. It was funny, thinking about it now- there was a time when she had sworn it could talk. It was a rather impolite caterpillar, but he truly did become a beautiful butterfly.

The neat black writing in her notebooks always took her mind away, no matter how hard she tried to concentrate. It was just too easy to let her mind drift off and imagine fighting against a fearsome black beast to save a place she loved and all the people that had become her friends. It was always later that she wondered how much of the daydream was real, what was imagined, where and when the line between dreams and reality had blurred almost beyond recognition.

Bright orange from the setting sun lit up the ocean and set the whole world on fire- the beauty always amazed her. But…whenever she pictured the color during the day, the sun was replaced by a face she couldn't quite place, and the orange became tangled fiery locks that stuck out wildly.

White walls in her cabin on board seemed different when she was on the edges of sleep. They kept out the sounds of the waves outside, and left her with ear-ringing silence. The walls were so white- it kept her awake, because whenever she closed her eyes she could see a pale figure smiling at her, with a face as white as her walls.

She saw a starfish once, clinging to the side of the boat. She let it perch on the side of the ship, instead of sending it plummeting through the ocean, though she couldn't quite decide why. Maybe it was because it was the same color as a mushroom she had seen once- the little thing had been destroyed by a horrible, terrible beast- but that beast turned out to be a friend. How confusing her dreams got…

But yet they weren't quite dreams. How strange- when she was on the brink of sleep, it was when her imaginings seemed most real, and the life she lived seemed most like a dream. How strange it was that she was dreaming once more of a place she'd visited as a child, and maybe only just recently. A beautiful, mystifying place that seemed more fantastic and yet more real than anything she'd ever imagined.

…What had it been called? Wonderland? Underland? She couldn't remember, and the thought saddened her as the memories of her adventures began to slip away, like a flower slowly wilting into nothing.

*

Alice Kingsleigh opened a door carefully, making sure not to distract her business partner from the negotiations currently taking place. She was supposed to be paying attention, but…she was in a whole new world- China was so _different _from anything she'd ever seen. It was almost like a dream…

She shook her head at her folly as she walked through a courtyard, before turning and facing another door. She looked back only to glimpse at the window where she could spot the two men arguing good-naturedly. No, they were fine without her for the moment. She turned the doorknob and found herself in a circular room, doors encircling the small space.

Something about this seemed so familiar…_almost like she had been here before._ She turned, and there was a little glass table. She didn't have to look closely at all to know that there was a key and a tiny glass vial placed side by side on it. _But that had been in a dream….hadn't it?_

She scooped up the key and the vial carefully, then knelt to retrieve a small cake. _One makes you grow, and one makes you shrink._ Holding the three things carefully, she turned to face the tiny door she knew she would find. _The door leads to the place from my dreams….but it wasn't a dream. It was never a dream._

Kneeling, she turned the key carefully. The door swung open to reveal a colorful world. She poked her head through curiously. _I remember this place. Under-Wonder-land. With the Red Queen and the White Queen and the Jabberwocky and Absalom and-_

The grass was greener, the sky was a brilliant blue, stones created a path that led off into the distance. Trees lined the path, and giant mushrooms, and off in the distance she could see-

_ Hatter._

She had nearly forgotten, just the way he had said she would. But seeing him now, just in the distance, everything came back once more. He looked exactly the same- brilliant green eyes, wild orange hair, pale skin, and that omnipresent top hat.

_Hatter_.

It was only when he turned that she realized she'd spoken out loud. He saw her immediately, and was crouching next to the door in an instant. "Alice," he said softly. "You're certainly Alice, I'd recognize you anywhere. You remembered."

"I did," she breathed, taking in every detail of his face, of the landscape behind him, remembering everything _so she could never forget again._

He smiled cheerfully at her, and then laughed. "Why is it you're always too small or too tall? Silly Alice."

Alice laughed, feeling lighter than she had in what seemed like forever. Hatter laughed as well, then abruptly went silent.

"You could come back, Alice," he said quietly, meeting her gaze steadily. She smiled once more savoring the thought. To go back, back _home_, back to everything she had forgotten and everything she needed. "What an idea," she whispered, almost to herself. "a crazy, mad, _wonderful_ idea. I..." she trailed off suddenly, her smile fading. Hatter frowned, his eyes darkening suddenly.

"Alice?"

"Wait right here- I'll be right back." she promised, before pushing the door closed until it was just barely open. She stood up, stumbling backward before opening the door she had entered, glancing up through the courtyard. The negotiations had never stopped- _and they would go on just as well without her_. She nodded to herself and pulled her notebook and pencil out from a discreet pocket on her dress.

**My dear Mr. Ascot,**

** I'm afraid that I've had to leave- a rather sudden thing, actually. A dear friend of mine **_(she chuckled- if he only knew the truth! How to explain Hatter in words that everyone else would understand- but then, why would she want to?)_

**A dear friend of mine has appeared, and this is an opportunity I cannot pass up. I am sure that you will continue the business in a way that would please my father, for it will likely be impossible for me to continue along in this partnership. Be assured that it is by no means because of you, but I simply must leave. Do give my best to my mother and sister, as well as Hamish. **_(It was common courtesy to say goodbye, it didn't mean she had to like it.)_

**The best wishes for all your ventures, **

** Alice Kingsleigh.**

It would do. She nodded to herself once more and folded the note, leaving it where he was sure to find it, before entering the room once more and crouching beside the little door.

Hatter hadn't moved, although his eyes had started to change into a color she hadn't seen them change before- it would have bothered her, but they were immediately that wonderful brilliant green again and his smile was back and she was picking up the vial and _she was going home at last._

Home. The idea made her smile even through the bitter-tasting potion, clutching her dress with one hand as she snatched the little cake with her other. Hatter helped her through the door, and she took the precisely right amount of cake to send her shooting up to her proper size.

"There!" he said, stepping close enough for his hat to brush her forehead. "Perfectly sized at last." He looked at her for a long moment, then stepped back and offered her his arm gallantly. "We're going to be late for tea."

"Well, we can't have that," she said cheerfully, accepting his arm. They started down the path slowly. Alice could _feel_ the magic of Under-Wonder-Underland, a little tingle that started at her toes and warmed her heart and made her close her eyes and smile in sheer bliss.

_Or maybe that was her proximity to Hatter._

You wouldn't be able to say whose hand had slipped first. All she knew was that her hand had slipped off his elbow and they had linked arms, walking in perfect step down the path. She knew that just out of sight was the little clearing where they always had tea. Chessur and the Dormouse and the March Hare and everything, all her friends, would be right there waiting.  
But that could wait, just a moment or two longer. She was here now- she wouldn't forget any more.

"Alice?"

"Yes, Hatter?"

"Are you-" _-really going to stay forever?_ "Will you-" _stay? Please? _"Do you-" _love me?_ She could see him floundering, grasping at anything. Her hand slipped down to intertwine with his. She heard him take a breath, squeeze her hand, settle down.

She grounded him, kept him from losing it completely, when he thought he was slipping off the edge of sanity into complete and utter madness. She kept him grounded, made him remember who he was. In an almost-the-same-yet-different way, he did the same for her. He kept her from forgetting that life was _beautiful wonderful crazy brilliant mad_, and not just a dreary existence with formal parties and balls and stuffy people and everything she had to put up with and everything she hated.

"Alice?" He tried again.

"Yes, Hatter?" She waited patiently.

"I-I- Do you have any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?" She smiled, stepping just a bit closer so their arms brushed as they walked. He looked down at her, happiness and sadness and hope swirling in his eyes. She looked up at him, happiness and brilliance and magic and _home_ shining in hers.

" Hatter? I haven't the faintest idea."

_**Fin.**_

** Hooray for Owl City, for writing an excellent song that makes for fun ideas. :)**

**Cocoa =D**


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